Virtual PLUS+ program

MEASURING WHAT MATTERS

Virtual PLUS+ Program

Introduction

Planning for the future in the midst of a global pandemic has been one of the greatest challenges that Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) has faced as a school division. Overnight, we joined educators across the country to navigate the uncharted waters of delivering teaching and learning in a virtual environment while ensuring that students had access to nutritious meals, the appropriate technology and internet connectivity as well as the social, emotional, and academic learning supports to endure during this difficult time in our nation’s history. What has been remarkable to witness during this time is the response from our team, which has shown tremendous resilience, patience and grace to innovate and activate quickly to ensure that our families and staff remained connected and informed as we learned alongside each other in this new world.

In the spring of 2020, our team was thrust into a virtual environment at a time when the school community was looking forward to wrapping up the school year with a myriad of celebrations and promotions, namely our seniors crossing the stage on graduation day, students transitioning to the next grade level, recognizing our principal, teacher and support employees of the year and several milestones that our students and staff have come to look forward to at this time of the year. Last year, we had to be creative and celebrate in new ways to appropriately honor our students and staff for their academic and personal achievements, while preparing them for the uncertainties that were ahead of us. And, while we were grappling with all this newness, we had to continue to support our community and build confidence that our decision making centered on racial equity and was in accordance with the health and safety guidance that we received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Virginia Department of Education. To ensure that we met our goal of an equitable teaching and learning experience for all students, and that we had thoughtfully encompassed all of the priorities in our plans for the uncertainties ahead, we designed a process that involved a group of Thought Partners made up of representatives from key stakeholder groups, including the City of Alexandria, the Parent Teacher Association Council and community partners. Following our meetings with Thought Partners, we convened the Cross-Functional Planning Teams composed of 150+ staff, parents, students, and community partners throughout the month of July to further refine our plans and deliver the most feasible reopening model for ACPS.

To that end, the Enhanced Continuity of Learning Plan 4.0: Reimagining Schools that our team and community developed as a roadmap was launched in the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. The plan illustrated the talent and expertise on our team and among our dedicated families and partners at ACPS. It also spoke to our commitment to tackling racial inequities across the school division through our introduction of the Virtual PLUS+ model. Each of its components were deeply connected to the division’s 2025 Strategic Plan: Equity for All.

The comprehensive Virtual PLUS+ model was a well thought-out plan for social, emotional and academic learning and family support. It provided teaching and learning within virtual classrooms while providing additional support that students, staff and families needed to absorb the new content being taught, build relationships with teachers and staff and stay connected to the school community.

It featured five key PLUS+ areas, including social, emotional and academic supports; technology enhancements; child care options for our most vulnerable families; continuation of meal distribution; and a live multilingual phone helpline.

Overview

Our Progress

ACPS continually monitored the effectiveness of the Virtual PLUS+ model and our ability to address each child’s learning, health and safety needs. We reassessed our plan at the end of the first quarter and every nine weeks subsequently. It was designed to offer maximum flexibility as the local and regional landscape changed. Our plan to reopen, and under what scenarios, were also driven by national and state guidance and applied to our local context and needs.

On August 7, 2020, the work of the Cross-Functional Planning Teams was presented to the ACPS School Board, with the goal of providing a recommendation for a virtual learning model called Virtual PLUS+. This presentation also reviewed a feasibility assessment for virtual vs. hybrid learning, given the need to be flexible and adjust as needed so that we could still deliver high quality and engaging instruction to our students and families.

Virtual PLUS+ was adopted by the Alexandria City School Board on August 7, 2020, as the model for ACPS to use for the start of the 202021 school year through the end of the first quarter.

The virtual academic program included a structured bell schedule, live instruction with teachers, and additional academic support for some of our most vulnerable students, including one-on-one or small group tutoring. Through this model, all students received synchronous lessons from teachers in each subject area four days a week and were graded on completed work.

Equity is the framework in which we make every decision, and this was no different.

The Virtual PLUS+ model was based on the goals outlined in the 2025 Strategic Plan: Equity for All. ACPS has pledged to provide an equitable, high-quality education that is accessible and engaging to all students, and grounded in our division’s Core Values. The “PLUS+” in the Virtual PLUS+ model enabled us to provide additional support for specific groups of students, specifically our most vulnerable. Virtual PLUS+ also ensured an equitable learning environment within that the constraints the global pandemic placed on education.